Which castes had a large population and were granted land rights by t…

The correct answer is Option (4) → Dominant caste

Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, Option (1) can also be considered correct, as explained below.

Option (1) Jats — Can also be considered correct. Examples of dominant castes include the Yadavs of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Vokkaligas of Karnataka, the Marathas of Maharashtra, the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh. So the Jats are one of the castes that had a large population and gained land rights.

Option (2) Scheduled caste — Incorrect. The land rights went to the intermediate castes, who managed agriculture. They in turn depended on the labour of the lower castes, specially the ‘untouchable’ castes, for tilling and tending the land.

Option (3) Scheduled tribes — Incorrect. The account of the land reforms and the dominant castes is about the intermediate cultivating castes of the caste system, not about tribal communities.

Option (4) Dominant caste — Correct as per NTA. ‘Dominant caste’, a term given by M.N. Srinivas, refers to those castes which had a large population and were granted landrights by the partial land reforms effected after Independence. These intermediate castes gained economic power with the land, and their large numbers gave them political power too.